“The New Strategic Selling” by Stephen Heiman, Diane Sanchez

[Pages:22]"The New Strategic Selling" by Stephen Heiman, Diane Sanchez

- Non-manipulative selling philosophy - True selling success rests on such "beyond the order" achievements as repeat

business, solid referrals, and long-term relationships. - Key is to manage every sales objective as a joint venture ? a mutually beneficial

transaction - Process selling

- Degree of Influence: Buying influences, the multiple players who can impact the outcome of any sale. Avoid the mistake of assuming that "all Buyers are alike."

- The Win-Results Statement: connection between a company's business results and a key player's Wins.

- Competition: Explain why obsessing about your competitors can be just as debilitating as ignoring them.

- Sales Funnel

- Chapter 1: Successful Selling In A World of Constant Change:

o Need a plan of action o There is always a specific, clearly identifiable reason that a sale is lost

- Complex Sale: # of people must give their approval or input before the buying decision can be made. o Buying organization has multiple options o Selling organization has multiple options o Both organizations, numerous levels of responsibility are involved. o Buying org.'s decision-making process is complex-meaning that it is seldom self-evident to an outsider.

- In complex sales, sales rep has to develop a selling method that's distinct from, and more analytical than, that of the traditional hand-pumping good old boy who made it on a shoeshine and a smile.

- The decisive factor in the Complex Sale is not product or price but structure. - Visible and repeatable strategy for success - It isn't change itself that produces disorientation, but the uncertainty that is often

associated with it. - Premise 1 of Strategic Selling: Whatever go you where you are today is no

longer sufficient to keep you there. - Premise 2 of Strategic Selling: In the Complex Sale, a good tactical plan is

only as good as the strategy that led up to it. o Use tactics during your sales presentations, strategy must come before it. o Good strategy, like good tactics can be learned.

o Conceptual Selling, focuses exclusively on face-to-face selling tactics, need to get the call in the first place

o Strategy is the single most neglected element in selling today. - Premise 3 of Strategic Selling: You can succeed in sales today only if you

know what you're doing and why

- Profile of the Strategic Professional o Develop selling steps that are visible, logical, and repeatable o 80% of new sales are made by 10% of sales reps, and that they close those sales only after making five or more calls on a client. o Research shows that another kind of persistence is equally important, the kind that top people show in working on their own selling methods. o All strategic professionals share one characteristic: they're never satisfied; it's the best who always want to do better.

- Chapter 2: Strategy and Tactics Defined:

o Strategy ? process you use to lay out your moves in advance of the sales call.

o Strategos ? word for "general", strategy, "art of the general" o Objective of a good sales strategy: get yourself in the right place with the

right people at the right time sot that you can make the right tactical presentation. o The question to focus on is, "How can I manage this sale?"--Ask throughout the sales cycle.

- Setting the Account Strategy: Four Steps to Success 1) Analyze your current position with regard to your account and with regard to your specific sales objective. 2) Think through possible alternate positions 3) Determine which alternate position would best secure your objective and devise an Action Plan to achieve it. 4) Implement you Action Plan

o Two things about these four steps to success: 1) taken together they illustrate the importance of constant review, feedback; 2) notice how frequently the word "position" appears in the four-step design.

o The whole key to strategy is position. It tells you where you are now, and where you might have to move in the near or distant future to increase your chances of success with a given objective.

- Chapter 3: Your Starting Point: Position:

- "The general who doesn't know where he is in relation to the enemy ? whether in terms of geography, knowledge of forces, lines of supply, weather, ore other factors ? is simply setting his people up for the kill."

- Put your self in the best position to accomplish a particular objective or set of objectives.

- Understanding current position means knowing who all your key players are, how they feel about you, how they feel about your proposal, what questions they want to have answered, and how they see your proposal vis-?-vis their other options.

- If you're not certain where you stand with regard to a given account, you are or soon will be lost ? and that will be your position.

- Personal Workshop 1: Position

o Step 1: Identify Relevant Changes It isn't change in itself that causes stress and disorientation, but the uncertainty of not knowing how to react to it.

o Step 2: Rate These Changes As Threats or Opportunities o Step 3: Define Your Current Single Sales Objective

Every piece of business is unique Be precise, specify Single Sales Objective Always has the following objectives:

? It's specific and measurable ? It's tied to a time line, when you expect the order to close ? It focuses on a specific outcome ? It's single rather than multiple In corporate selling you're always pursuing multiple opportunities. But in setting strategies, it's got to be one "battle" at a time. Breaking a complicated account out into multiple Single Sales Objectives helps you give each potential order the unique attention it deserves o Step 4: Test Your Current Position "Euphoria-Panic Continuum": Euphoria, Great, Secure, Comfort, OK, Concern, Discomfort, Worry, Fear, Panic First: Be straight with yourself Second: It's just as dangerous to be blissfully happy about your account as it is to be in a panic mode. If you find yourself at either end of the continuum, be wary: You're probably being unrealistic in your assessment. Euphoria left unchecked, leads to complacency; complacency leads to arrogance; arrogance inevitably leads to disaster o Step 5: Examine Alternate Positions

- Chapter 4: A Glance At the Strategy Blueprint: The Six Key Elements of Strategic Selling:

o Six Key Elements of Strategic Selling 1) Buying Influences 2) Red flags/leverage from strength 3) Response Modes 4) Win-Results 5) Ideal Customer Profile 6) Sales Funnel

o Key Element 1: Buying Influences Begin their strategy by looking not for people, but for roles. Four critical buying roles, "buying influences": ? 1) Economic Buying Influence ? give final approval to buy. There is always one person or set of people playing this role for a given sales objective. ? 2) User Buying Influences ? will use or supervise use of product/service, so their personal success is directly tied to the success of your solution ? 3) Technical Buying Influences ? role is to screen out possible suppliers, can't give final yes, but can give a final no ? 4) Coach ? role is to guide you to your particular sales objective by leading you to the other buyers and by giving you information that you need to position yourself effectively with each one. They may be found in the buying organization, in your own organization, or outside of them both. Your Coach's focus is on helping you to make this sale.

o Key Element 2: Red Flags/Leverage From Strength Red Flags are positive, because they help you identify trouble before it finds you. "Leverage From Strength" ? highlight areas that differentiate you from the competition as a way of offsetting or minimizing threats to your strategic position.

o Key Element 3: Response Mode Determine how buying influences feel about your proposal by identifying their current receptivity to change, specifically the change to their business that your proposal represents. Response Modes: ? 1) Growth ? buyer does perceive this essential discrepancy, and feels that the gap between current reality and the desired results can be closed only if quantity can be increased, quality improved, or both. Will be receptive to you if your proposal will make it possible to do more or better.

? 2) Trouble ? buyer needs help and will welcome any change that promises to take away the source of the problem.

? 3) Even Keel ? perceives no discrepancy between current reality and the hoped-for results; no incentive to changed, the probability of selling them change is very low.

? 4) Overconfident ? perceives reality as being far better than the hoped-for results. Totally unreceptive to change, and your chances of changing their minds are practically nil.

o Key Element 4: Win-Results Concentrate on developing "win-win" outcomes 4 possible outcomes to every buy/sell encounter: ? 1) Win-Win ? both you and buyer "win"; both have profited, personally and professionally ? 2) Win-Lose ? you win at the buyer's expense ? 3) Lose-Win ? you allow buyer to win at your expense, i.e., special discount ? 4) Lose-Lose ? both you and the buyer lose Can't just meet their business needs, you have to serve their individual, subjective needs as well. RESULT ? impact that your product or service can have on the Buyer's business processes. WIN ? personal gain that satisfies an individual buyer's perceived self-interest WIN-RESULT ? a result that gives one of your individual buying influences a Win. The real reason people buy

o Key Element 5: The Ideal Customer Profile o Key Element 6: The Sales Funnel

- Chapter 5: Key Element 1: Buying Influences

o Focus on Buying Roles: (4) 1) The Economic Buying Influence ? person who give final approval to buy your product or service, influence to release the dollars to buy. This person can say yes where everybody else has said no. ? Always 1 economic buyer per sale. ? Critical to find out who gives the final yes for your sale. ? Role may be played by a board, a selection committee, or another decision ?making body acting as a single entity. But even when such a group is involved, there's usually one person within the group who is first among equals and whose "final final" approval is essential. ? Finding the Economic Buyer:

o Dollar amount ? greater the dollar amount, the higher up in buying organization you need to look

o Business conditions ? less stable the overall business environment, the more likely it is that your economic buyer will be higher up in org.

o Experience with You and Your Firm ? lack of trust means greater perceived risk for the buying firm, and greater perceived risk means that the final decision to buy will move up the corporate ladder.

o Experience with Your Product and Service o Potential Organizational Impact 2) User Buying Influences ? The people who will actually use your product or service once the purchase is made. ? "on the job" ? Product's reliability, service record, retraining needed, etc. ? Tend to be subjective ? Want good performance because it makes them look good 3) Technical Buying Influences ? People who can't say yes, only no- and usually do. ? Gatekeeper, i.e., consultant ? Task is to limit the field of sellers and to come up with the short list. They don't decide who wins, but they do decide who can play. ? Make judgments about the measurable and quantifiable aspects of your product or service 4) Coaches ? Role is to guide you in the sale by giving you information that you need in order to manage it to a satisfactory close ? Develop at least one ? 3 criteria for good coach: 1) you have credibility with that person; 2) The coach has credibility with the buying influences for your single sales objective; can find good coaches within the buying org., the best of all scenarios is to turn the Economic Buyer into a coach.; 3) The Coach wants your solution; it's in his or her own self-interest for the customer to accept your solution. ? You want the coach to help you think through your position with the other buying influences.

o Degree of Influence: makes you look harder at the situation. It's one more checkpoint that refines the quality of your information. 5 Critical Factors in determining: ? 1) Organizational impact ? where in the buying organization is your proposal likely to have the most immediate and/or lasting impact?

? 2) Level of Expertise ? which of your Buying Influences are most knowledgeable in your company's area of expertise?

? 3) Location ? 4) Personal Priority ? the higher priority your Single Sales

Objective has for a Buying Influence personally, the greater likelihood that he or she will exert ? or at least attempt to exert ? a significant Degree of Influence on the outcome. ? 5) Politics

- Personal Workshop 2: Buying Influences o Step 1: Draw your buying influences chart (economic, user, technical, coaches) o Step 2: Identify all your buyers ? there is going to be one Economic Buyer, but in the other three boxes you may have a number of names. The right way to identify your buyers is to search for the people who are playing the four roles for your current objective; ask yourself three questions: ? To locate single Economic Buyer: "Who has the final authority to release the money for this sales objective?" ? To find User Buyer: "Who will personally use or supervise the use of my product or service on the job?" ? To find Technical Buyer: " Who will make judgments about the specifications of my product?" ? To find the people you can most effectively develop into Coaches: "Who can guide me in this sale?" o Step 3: Determine Degrees of Influence Determine for each buying influence whether their likely impact on your current sales objective will be dominant, moderate, or minimal. o Step 4: Test Your Current Position Ask yourself two question, designed to locate areas of uncertainty that we've found to be extremely common: ? 1. Have I identified all the key people who are currently playing each of the four Buying Influence roles for my sales objective? ? 2. Have I covered the bases with every one of these key players?

- Chapter 6: Key Element 2: Red Flags/Leverage From Strength

o "Automatic Red Flags" ? five things that are so prevalent and so dangerous to sales that we consider them "automatic" Red Flag areas. Missing Information

 Uncertainty About Information ? whenever you're "pretty sure" or

"almost certain" that you understand a piece of information that

you need to close a sale, look again. Any buyer ignored is a threat Any Buying Influence New to The Job ? transform new faces into

sponsors Reorganization ? roles shift

? Sales success is always a direct result of constant vigilance

o Feedback and Opportunity Red flag technique is a "continuous assessment" device, a

feedback mechanism

o The "Better Half" of Strategy: Leverage From Strength It's what enables you to turn the weaknesses uncovered by your

Red Flags into opportunities for strategic improvement.

o "Strategic Strength" meets the following criteria: 1) A Strength is an Area of Differentiation ? you have a strength

only if this matters to your customer. 2) A Strength Improves your position 3) A Strength is Relevant to your current sales objective Strengths diminish importance of price competition

o Eliminating Red Flags: Dos and Don'ts Scenario 1: Hammering Away ? you'll end up only advertising

your weakness. Scenario 2: Ignoring the Roadblock Scenario 3: Leverage From Strength ? go to the User buyer for

assistance in getting the economic buyer covered, turn the user

buyer into a coach; You gain a distinct strategic advantage when

you apply indirect rather than direct pressure on tough Buying

Influences.

o Summary: Locating areas of weakness (Red Flags) Locating areas of strength Using those Strengths to remove or reduce the impact of the Red

Flags

- Personal Workshop 3: Red Flags/Buyers

o Put a red flag next to the name of any of the following players: Anyone about whom you have insufficient data ? about whom you

have a question you can't answer. Anyone about whom the information you have is unclear or

uncertain. Any uncovered base ? any buying influence that nobody has yet

spoken to Any new player Any player involved in a recent or current corporate reorganization

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